Israeli planes strike southern suburb of Beirut

updated 10:50 p.m. ET July 13, 2006

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israel continued its furious military campaign against Lebanon’s main airport, highways, military bases and other targets Friday, retaliating for scores of Hezbollah guerrilla rockets that rained down on Israel and reached as far as Haifa, its third-largest city, for the first time.

The death toll in two days of fighting rose to 57 people with the sudden burst of violence sending shock waves through a region already traumatized by Iraq and the ongoing battles in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas. It shattered the relative calm in Lebanon that followed Israel’s pullout from its occupied zone in south Lebanon in 2000 and the withdrawal of Syrian forces last year.

Israel’s target was Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant Shiite faction which has a free hand in southern Lebanon and also holds seats in parliament. Hezbollah sparked the current conflict Wednesday with a cross-border raid that captured two of Israel’s soldiers.

Two Israeli civilians and eight Israeli soldiers have also been killed, the military’s highest death toll in four years.

Israel said it was determined to beat Hezbollah back and deny the militant fighters positions they have held along the border since 2000.

The Lebanese government, caught in the middle, pleaded for a cease-fire to the U.N. Security Council, which set an urgent meeting for Friday.

“If the government of Lebanon fails to deploy its forces, as is expected of a sovereign government, we shall not allow Hezbollah forces to remain any further on the borders of the state of Israel,” Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said.

‘Nothing is safe’
Amid the violence, Israeli army chief Brig. Gen. Dan Halutz warned that “nothing is safe” in Lebanon.

Israeli warplanes stepped up the pressure early Friday, striking targets in the southern suburbs of Beirut where Hezbollah has its political headquarters, security officials said. 

Explosions from at least seven missiles were heard, according to two AP journalists and other witnesses near the scene.

The raid came just a few hours after Israeli planes dropped leaflets in south Beirut warning residents to avoid areas where Hezbollah operates.

Fears mounted among Arab and European governments that violence in Lebanon could spiral out of control.

Israeli analysts warned that Syria, which supports Hezbollah and plays host to Hamas’ political leader Khaled Mashaal, could be Israel’s next target.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said any Israeli attack against Syria would be an aggression on the whole Islamic world and warned of a harsh reaction, the official Iranian news agency reported Friday.

The agency said Ahmadinejad made the comments in a telephone call to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Lebanon held responsible
Israel says it holds Lebanon responsible for Hezbollah's abduction of two soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser, 31 and Eldad Regev, 26. The Lebanese government insisted it had no prior knowledge of the move and did not condone it — and even withdrew its ambassador to the U.S. after he made comments seemingly in support of the guerrillas.

Hezbollah fighters operate with almost total autonomy in southern Lebanon, and the government has no control over their actions. But the government has long resisted international pressure to disarm the group. Any attempt to disarm Hezbollah by force could lead to sectarian conflict.

With Beirut’s international airport closed after Israeli bombs ripped apart its runway, many tourists were trapped while others drove over the mountains to Syria — though Israeli warplanes struck the highway linking Beirut to the Syrian capital of Damascus early Friday, closing the country's main artery and further isolating Lebanon from the outside world.

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